“The earliest New Testament writings were about 50 A.D. (1 and 2 Thessalonians); the last were in the 90s A.D. (John’s Gospel, Revelation),” responds Colin Donovan, EWTN vice president of theology.

“By around 200 A.D., various lists of which writings were inspired (Hebrew Old Testament and Christian New Testament) had general agreement among the Fathers of the Church, though some lists had more books, and some fewer, than the canon (list) ultimately accepted.

“By the late 300s, the canon as Catholics have it was accepted and promulgated as such by Pope Sylvester (c. 380) and St. Augustine in two North-African councils (390s) organized against the Donatist heresy, which denied the Christian value of the Old Testament. St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate dates from shortly after this period (420) and has been in one edition or another the official Latin text ever since. The latest was promulgated in the 1990s by Pope John Paul II.”

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